I'm running with theory that her olfactory sensors can detect anything humans and other AIs can, and quite possibly a few things on top of that, because why the heck would it not?

Cost. The more sensitive the olfactory sensors, the more expensive they'll be. If the police department pays for olfactory upgrades, they can probably get a decent discount for quantity, but if Roko had to pay for it herself on a cop's salary...

Besides, the evidence suggests that her olfactory sensors are not as refined as Bubbles's, given the somewhat cruder image she saw.

As for her behaviour; we know Hanners is devoted to her friends, and I expect she is not up to date on the latest developments. Once Bubbles and Faye fill her in, I expect she will welcome officer Basilisk with her usual chipperness.

And I agree, Officer B seems to lead a pretty lonely life as shown by present strips, her colleague interaction and her home life. Time to adopt another one for our gang...

This seems to be a running theme with Jeph's AI characters; even though they're robotic and you would expect them to be asexual, quite a few of them have shown something akin to sexual desire, often directed towards humans but also having as many bizarre-seeming sub-variants as humans.

Of course, one now wonders if Roko has anthro-porn pictures on the inside of her locker door or something!

All she's probably heard about Roko comes from Faye and Bubbles, so its probably a one-sided picture, but still Hanners could have given Roko the benefit of the doubt, especially considering she's just let her friends slide on several crimes.

Hannelore isn't stupid. She knows just how much of a can of worms Spookybot has opened by intervening in Bubbles' life and she knows that there are some who would be very, very interested in making Faye and Bubbles' life difficult, either to smoke out their 'sponsor' or to see if there is anything inherently different about them. She's being defensive on behalf of her friends.

It doesn't help that Roko is bad at small talk and made an idle inquiry sound like a flat-footed attempt to gather gossip on suspects!

I might be off base here, but I very much get the feeling that anyone in this thread who is disappointed in Hanners and her treatment of Roko, or thinks it's a bit much for her to shut down the way she did, has never dealt with pushy and/or unnecessarily nosy and/or rougher cops before. Cops in general, really.

I might be off base here, but I very much get the feeling that anyone in this thread who is disappointed in Hanners and her treatment of Roko, or thinks it's a bit much for her to shut down the way she did, has never dealt with pushy and/or unnecessarily nosy and/or rougher cops before. Cops in general, really.

I'm sure as heck not. That is *EXACTLY* the way you handle a police officer asking questions whose answers bear on any of your friends. Go Hanners! This is either a case of incredibly good instincts, or she has received specific warnings/lessons and paid attention to them.

I agree, and I don't have a Bond-villain mother. Of course that is probably what someone who had a Bond-villain mother would say.

"Yay or neigh"? There's only one answer to that:

(click to show/hide)

"Hay!"

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"I would rather have questions that can't be answered, than answers that can't be questioned." Richard Feynman

I don't have a problem with Hannelore being cautious. Or smart. I didn't mind how she reacted the last comic. But this one?

Come on. It's not about her being smart of cautious. There are a million ways to say "I don't want to talk about this" in a polite manner. And I get Hannelore's reaction. I do. She doesn't have a good reason to trust Roko or even to like her. She's under no obligation to be polite or nice to her.

But I'm sorry, cutting someone off mid-sentence (when they're trying to backpedal and explain what they meant, no less!) and Hannelore's icy cold stare? That's not about not talking to the police, because it might be a bad idea. It's about not talking to Roko because Hannelore doesn't like talking to her. She's being cold, unpleasant and borderline rude.

I can't guess the motivation behind everyone's posts in this forum, but I can't help but wonder if past experience with the police isn't informing at least some people's attitude towards Roko as a character. While by no means universal, the general attitude towards police in this forum tends to be, on average, extremely hostile. Does that inform people's opinion on this particular comic? Maybe not. But I think it just might.

Again, I don't think Hannelore is a terrible human being for reacting the way she does, or anything like that. But I don't see the way she handled the situation as necessary. Or reasonable. Or nice. Roko may be a police officer, but she's still a person.

Speaking as a Brony, I can confirm that we are not all into anthro cheesecake pictures. Indeed, some of us consider them profoundly weird and disturbing. Even the humanoid Equestria Girls characters need to be massively re-proportioned before I can call them 'attractive'.

All she's probably heard about Roko comes from Faye and Bubbles, so its probably a one-sided picture, but still Hanners could have given Roko the benefit of the doubt, especially considering she's just let her friends slide on several crimes.

Honestly, I don't disagree with Hannelore's behavior on this one. Maybe she was just trying to make conversation, but there are many instances of cops having a 'casual conversation' actually looking for information. And multiple instances have shown that talking to a cop, even if you've done nothing wrong, is always a risk.

I recall there was a heated debate when Roko first appeared about the 'Don't Talk to Cops' thing, with which I generally disagreed, not living in a police state, but in this situation even I would be wary of volunteering more information than necessary, especially about someone else.

I'm running with theory that her olfactory sensors can detect anything humans and other AIs can, and quite possibly a few things on top of that, because why the heck would it not?

Cost. The more sensitive the olfactory sensors, the more expensive they'll be. If the police department pays for olfactory upgrades, they can probably get a decent discount for quantity, but if Roko had to pay for it herself on a cop's salary...

Besides, the evidence suggests that her olfactory sensors are not as refined as Bubbles's, given the somewhat cruder image she saw.

It's also possible that Hanners might have deliberately chosen a tea varietal that leans more 'anthro-unicorn in banana hammock' than 'pastoral unicorn', to elicit embarrassment from Roko. Or it might reflect more of a psychological difference between Roko and Bubbles. I'm not rejecting the possibility you mentioned, because I'm also mulling over that hypothesis.

I don't have a problem with Hannelore being cautious. Or smart. I didn't mind how she reacted the last comic. But this one?

Come on. It's not about her being smart of cautious. There are a million ways to say "I don't want to talk about this" in a polite manner. And I get Hannelore's reaction. I do. She doesn't have a good reason to trust Roko or even to like her. She's under no obligation to be polite or nice to her.

But I'm sorry, cutting someone off mid-sentence (when they're trying to backpedal and explain what they meant, no less!) and Hannelore's icy cold stare? That's not about not talking to the police, because it might be a bad idea. It's about not talking to Roko because Hannelore doesn't like talking to her. She's being cold, unpleasant and borderline rude.

I can't guess the motivation behind everyone's posts in this forum, but I can't help but wonder if past experience with the police isn't informing at least some people's attitude towards Roko as a character. While by no means universal, the general attitude towards police in this forum tends to be, on average, extremely hostile. Does that inform people's opinion on this particular comic? Maybe not. But I think it just might.

Again, I don't think Hannelore is a terrible human being for reacting the way she does, or anything like that. But I don't see the way she handled the situation as necessary. Or reasonable. Or nice. Roko may be a police officer, but she's still a person.

Yea...but Hanners didn't start acting this way because she saw a cop in uniform, obviously. She started the "low power" routine when a cop asked about a friend who she KNOWS has had, in the past, and could possibly have, in the future, trouble with the law. So, no, completely shutting down conversation is NOT out of the question, here.

And to the assertion that those of us who hold such views have mostly had poor interactions with LEO's in the past, I can safely disabuse you of such notions. In fact, not saying any names, but I know of one person here who holds such views who'll be starting academy training very soon. As to that particular person's true reason, for having the views they have on the subject. Well, let's just say they've grown tired of the hypocrisy that permeates their own country(*America*) on this matter:

"Ok, everyone, remember, You don't have to speak to the police and, of course, have the right to an attorney. But if you ever use this right, you're a disgusting person and we WILL all condemn you for invoking it!!! >:-< "

I didn't say shutting down the conversation was out of the question. I'm not even saying Hannelore was under an obligation to act differently than she did. Heck, I acknowledged that fairly explicitly, I think.

I'm saying she was being impolite and cold. It's her right, but it doesn't mean - as some people have asserted - she needed to do that because it's smart and prudent. She decided to be a bit rude. It was not a necessary component of deciding not to talk to Roko.

And I never said anything I think of as condemning anyone. I went out of my way to say I understand why Hannelore acted the way she did. I am not sure how that is "condemning" anyone or anything (yes, I know you never directly said I did that, but you mentioned a general attitude in the context of my post. So... I feel you're kinda-sorta implying that).

All I can say is, if someone acted towards me like this, I'd feel bad. Roko did nothing to be treated this way. It's understandable, if unfortunate, why she was treated like that, and it's a direct result of her acting kind of stupid. But I can very well not like the way she was treated withOUT unreservedly condemning Hannelore's behaviour or even her as a person.

I feel like you're kinda inferring, from what I wrote, things I never said or implied, and I'm not exactly sure why.

But I'm sorry, cutting someone off mid-sentence (when they're trying to backpedal and explain what they meant, no less!) and Hannelore's icy cold stare? That's not about not talking to the police, because it might be a bad idea. It's about not talking to Roko because Hannelore doesn't like talking to her. She's being cold, unpleasant and borderline rude.

No, she's doing the only thing that guarantees a quick exit to this conversation. There are real-life incidents where cops have literally interpreted friendliness as being suspicious. Not responding to unwanted lines of questioning and being stern, those are intelligent responses.

But I'm sorry, cutting someone off mid-sentence (when they're trying to backpedal and explain what they meant, no less!) and Hannelore's icy cold stare? That's not about not talking to the police, because it might be a bad idea. It's about not talking to Roko because Hannelore doesn't like talking to her. She's being cold, unpleasant and borderline rude.

No, she's doing the only thing that guarantees a quick exit to this conversation. There are real-life incidents where cops have literally interpreted friendliness as being suspicious. Not responding to unwanted lines of questioning and being stern, those are intelligent responses.

I'm not expecting her to be chatty. But, off the top of my head "I'm sorry officer, let me stop you there. I don't want to talk about this topic. You don't need to explain yourself to me. Here's your tea, and have a nice day" could not possibly have been misinterpreted as wanting to continue the conversation. It would have achieved the same effect. And once more, I repeat - Hannelore is not *obligated* to respond like this, or similarly. But I'm kinda bummed that she didn't.

But I'm sorry, cutting someone off mid-sentence (when they're trying to backpedal and explain what they meant, no less!) and Hannelore's icy cold stare? That's not about not talking to the police, because it might be a bad idea. It's about not talking to Roko because Hannelore doesn't like talking to her. She's being cold, unpleasant and borderline rude.

No, she's doing the only thing that guarantees a quick exit to this conversation. There are real-life incidents where cops have literally interpreted friendliness as being suspicious. Not responding to unwanted lines of questioning and being stern, those are intelligent responses.

I'm not expecting her to be chatty. But, off the top of my head "I'm sorry officer, let me stop you there. I don't want to talk about this topic. You don't need to explain yourself to me. Here's your tea, and have a nice day" could not possibly have been misinterpreted as wanting to continue the conversation. It would have achieved the same effect. And once more, I repeat - Hannelore is not *obligated* to respond like this, or similarly. But I'm kinda bummed that she didn't.

If it was any other venue, a different country and an average person then I would hesitantly agree with you on that point.

But we are talking about Hannelore who is still working on her social interaction skills, Coffee of Doom which still has snark as a part of its customer service model and lastly the USofA where LEOs have earned a reputation that is spiraling to that of Burma.

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A good pun is it's own reword.There is a difference between spare parts, extra parts and left over parts.

The Venn diagram for Common Sense and Good Sense has very little, if any, overlap.

But I'm sorry, cutting someone off mid-sentence (when they're trying to backpedal and explain what they meant, no less!) and Hannelore's icy cold stare? That's not about not talking to the police, because it might be a bad idea. It's about not talking to Roko because Hannelore doesn't like talking to her. She's being cold, unpleasant and borderline rude.

No, she's doing the only thing that guarantees a quick exit to this conversation. There are real-life incidents where cops have literally interpreted friendliness as being suspicious. Not responding to unwanted lines of questioning and being stern, those are intelligent responses.

I'm not expecting her to be chatty. But, off the top of my head "I'm sorry officer, let me stop you there. I don't want to talk about this topic. You don't need to explain yourself to me. Here's your tea, and have a nice day" could not possibly have been misinterpreted as wanting to continue the conversation. It would have achieved the same effect. And once more, I repeat - Hannelore is not *obligated* to respond like this, or similarly. But I'm kinda bummed that she didn't.

If it was any other venue, a different country and an average person then I would hesitantly agree with you on that point.

But we are talking about Hannelore who is still working on her social interaction skills, Coffee of Doom which still has snark as a part of its customer service model and lastly the USofA where LEOs have earned a reputation that is spiraling to that of Burma.

Somewhat off-topic, but when the expected response to interaction from anyone who knows what's best of them is like this, I am not sure what person, if they genuinely care about people they're supposed to protect, would want to become a police officer at all. Granted, I would make a very poor policeman in any country, but if I became one for some strange reason, and people acted this way towards me even half of the time I was in uniform, I'd quit my job in like a month. And I'm not even that used to people treating me with any real amount of friendliness and respect.

Seems to me, even if it's not the fault of people who refuse to talk to the police, per se, this kinda creates a Catch-22 situation where working in law enforcement would turn off reasonable, friendly people, leaving only the... less desirable picks to do the job. I imagine hostility (or what can be perceived as hostility) from random people would hit a "I genuinely want to help people" person much harder than it would a "I'm here to catch criminals" person.

I don't have a problem with Hannelore being cautious. Or smart. I didn't mind how she reacted the last comic. But this one?

Come on. It's not about her being smart of cautious. There are a million ways to say "I don't want to talk about this" in a polite manner. And I get Hannelore's reaction. I do. She doesn't have a good reason to trust Roko or even to like her. She's under no obligation to be polite or nice to her.

But I'm sorry, cutting someone off mid-sentence (when they're trying to backpedal and explain what they meant, no less!) and Hannelore's icy cold stare? That's not about not talking to the police, because it might be a bad idea. It's about not talking to Roko because Hannelore doesn't like talking to her. She's being cold, unpleasant and borderline rude.

I can't guess the motivation behind everyone's posts in this forum, but I can't help but wonder if past experience with the police isn't informing at least some people's attitude towards Roko as a character. While by no means universal, the general attitude towards police in this forum tends to be, on average, extremely hostile. Does that inform people's opinion on this particular comic? Maybe not. But I think it just might.

Again, I don't think Hannelore is a terrible human being for reacting the way she does, or anything like that. But I don't see the way she handled the situation as necessary. Or reasonable. Or nice. Roko may be a police officer, but she's still a person.

Ugh...let my foolishness be a lesson to all about speaking on a subject so serious when you know you don't have the time to properly speak your message in the tone you wish to convey. Bah. Apologies, mate.

First off, that last line was an example of how I've seen the conversation in my country go when it comes to discussing people who don't wish to speak to the cops. It absolutely was not saying YOU were condemning those with a different point of view from you. Secondly, overall, I did understand that what you ultimately had an issue with was HOW Hannelor chose to shut the conversation down. And that's where we really disagree'd with each other.

So, on that, I would probably just say, remember who we're talking about here. For all her progress made, Hanners still has very severe anxiety and profound quirks. Who knows if she thinks of her reaction as anything other than efficient. I seriously doubt she thinks of this like you or I would view the situation.

And that's pretty much all, I really wanted to get at. And again, I really hope you'll forgive me for coming of like a complete d***. Wasn't my intention but after so long of being a citizen of the Internet...I should know better and try better.

Note: I wrote this in a semi-hurry(yep i know) on my tiny phone screen. lol

So, on that, I would probably just say, remember who we're talking about here. For all her progress made, Hanners still has very severe anxiety and profound quirks. Who knows if she thinks of her reaction as anything other than efficient. I seriously doubt she thinks of this like you or I would view the situation.

I absolutely agree. All things considered, she handled the situation rather well. That's why I voiced disappointment rather than irritation or anger. I still think she didn't react perfectly, but it's not she ran away or otherwise freaked out, or punched Roko in the face, or insulted her, or did anything genuinely awful.

So, on that, I would probably just say, remember who we're talking about here. For all her progress made, Hanners still has very severe anxiety and profound quirks. Who knows if she thinks of her reaction as anything other than efficient. I seriously doubt she thinks of this like you or I would view the situation.

I absolutely agree. All things considered, she handled the situation rather well. That's why I voiced disappointment rather than irritation or anger. I still think she didn't react perfectly, but it's not she ran away or otherwise freaked out, or punched Roko in the face, or insulted her, or did anything genuinely awful.

And now, I can't get the image of Hanners punching people in the face and quickly running away to escape awkward and uncomfortable social situations, out of my head. lol

So, on that, I would probably just say, remember who we're talking about here. For all her progress made, Hanners still has very severe anxiety and profound quirks. Who knows if she thinks of her reaction as anything other than efficient. I seriously doubt she thinks of this like you or I would view the situation.

I absolutely agree. All things considered, she handled the situation rather well. That's why I voiced disappointment rather than irritation or anger. I still think she didn't react perfectly, but it's not she ran away or otherwise freaked out, or punched Roko in the face, or insulted her, or did anything genuinely awful.

That's how I saw it. Its the fact that Hanners acted so coldly to someone she didn't know, cutting them off and acting out of character.

Another thing I'd like to point out is that when Bubbles has her tea, she either ends up in Unicorn Grove or Pegasus Cove. Roko ended up at the Unicorn Strip Club. Which begs the question - is that the way Bubbles and Roko interpret the information, or is it how Hanners prepares the tea?

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Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart but I am street smart.", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I am imaginary smart."

Remember, when Bubbles told Hannelore that she'd seen pegasi and Hannelore replied 'success'? I think that the precise blend generates a precise reaction in the sensory interpretation software in the AI, which Hannelore has somehow learned to exploit. So, she actually gave Roko a tea that she knew would provide her with unicorn beefcake. The intent may have been to freak her out but I suspect that this is where Hannelore's skills failed her - She didn't consider what manner of woman Roko is as well as what she likes and wants. Some would have been disgusted by the image but Roko wants more!

Hanners is very intelligent, intelligent enough to know her own limitations. She knows she won't fare well in a verbal joust, even with an AI, so she's shutting down where Dora could talk for an hour and not tell Roko a damn thing.

AIs in the QC universe have been demonstrated to have social needs and both Roko and Bubbles feel isolated (Roko hasn't had a you have friends moment yet). They have similar backgrounds.

It looks to me like Jeph is setting up a relationship between Bubbles and Roko, and he'll take his time to develop it. How will Fay fit in? Fay's spent a long time on the sauce, and emotional maturation stalls while you're intoxicated, so her emotional age is way behind her chronological age. Dealing with middle school jealousy responses will be a vehicle for Fay to work through that.

At least we know Bubbles is attracted to humans...specifically Faye. Um...right? Right? Please!

Jeph is examining the nature and boundaries of human/AI attraction & relationships at an emotional level. (We already know that Pintsize is keen to transgress physical boundaries, but Pintsize never met a boundary he didn't want to transgress. And then there's May. She's been known to transgress for money.)

Out of character? It's in character for Hannelore to give the cold shoulder or worse to someone she suspects of being dangerous to her friends. It's in character that she's not socially adept enough to say "I'm sorry, Officer, I'd like to answer your questions but my attorneys have insisted they be present if I talk with law enforcement. Can I get you anything else, though?"

This seems to be a running theme with Jeph's AI characters; even though they're robotic and you would expect them to be asexual, quite a few of them have shown something akin to sexual desire, often directed towards humans but also having as many bizarre-seeming sub-variants as humans.

Of course, one now wonders if Roko has anthro-porn pictures on the inside of her locker door or something!

Going by the look on her face, I'd wager she just learned something new about herself.

At least we know Bubbles is attracted to humans...specifically Faye. Um...right? Right? Please!

Jeph is examining the nature and boundaries of human/AI attraction & relationships at an emotional level. (We already know that Pintsize is keen to transgress physical boundaries, but Pintsize never met a boundary he didn't want to transgress. And then there's May. She's been known to transgress for money.)

I wouldn't say Bubbles is interested in Faye like that; I would say that Bubbles wants human interaction, companionship, and friendship. Roko is probably in a special case, as most police only have close friendships with other officers (someone who can understand the pressures of the job), but her being an AI, she's cut off from that for not being human. In that fashion, I think she has a lot in common with Bubbles.

As far as Pintsize and May having their fetishes, we've only seen them act it out with each other, tho Pintsize hasn't lacked for trying, but he's too easy to lock in a closet if he gets too annoying.

I think Roko had the mental image she did because whatever scent analysis hardware and software she has, may not be as top-of-the-line as Bubble's, so any data would render itself slightly more crudely. Plus, Hannelore did suggest unicorns. (I wonder if that was the Raspberry Zinger!)

I find it funny that Roko even sighs robotically. Not sure why an AI would need to sigh, unless the emotional program needs it for stress relief.

I'm a bit confused by the comments that imply that Roko walked into CoD and started asking questions about Bubbles. What I saw was her walk in and ask about tea. Hannelore responded with a humorous comment about a particular AI customer, and glancing at the chair (with its sign) with a smile on her face, Roko asked if that customer was Bubbles. None of that seemed to me to justify either Hannelore's reaction or the almost universal support that her reaction has gotten from the forumites. I am far from a huge fan of law enforcement, but the views expressed here are pretty extreme...

I'm running with theory that her olfactory sensors can detect anything humans and other AIs can, and quite possibly a few things on top of that, because why the heck would it not?

Cost. The more sensitive the olfactory sensors, the more expensive they'll be. If the police department pays for olfactory upgrades, they can probably get a decent discount for quantity, but if Roko had to pay for it herself on a cop's salary...

I beg to differ. If you want to argue cost, then off-the-shelf would be cheapest. Not some kind of custom-built sensor.

And what does off-the-shelf provide? The same senses as every other AI around. Which, I daresay, provides essentially the same range of senses as humans.

And, might I add, there is still no indication that the chassis was provided by the police, in any case.

Today's comic: cereal as fan service. Who ever would have guessed?

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I've sworn an oath of solitude until the pestilence is purged from the lands.

"I find you; feed you to pigs" shall be my favourite way of seeing somebody off henceforth!

« Last Edit: 28 Feb 2017, 19:09 by Case »

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"Freedom is always the freedom of the dissenter" - Rosa Luxemburg"The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you're a member of the Dunning-Kruger club. People miss that." - David Dunning

A theory: What Bubbles and Roko see when they sniff the tea is a reflection of what they want (or need) the most. Bubbles wants solitude and serenity. Roko wants a bit of excitement.

If this theory is valid, it would be interesting to have May or Momo sniff the tea to see what visions it gives them.

But not Pintsize. Never, ever Pintsize.

But what if all we know of Pintsize is wrong and all of his antics are a vent and some sort of qualifying trial for a potential partner. Perhaps he's looking for an escape from the circle of platonic peers that he currently exists in on many levels. May-

This moves on from the general "Don't talk to the police" advice. This is very specific. Roko was last heard from as a police officer harassing Bubbles, or investigating a case in which Bubbles feared arrest. And Hanners is a friend to Bubbles.

Now, in spite of that, Hannelore was nice and friendly to the officer - right up to the point where she asked a question, specifically, about Bubbles. The look on Hanners' face is both flat affect (which bluntly tells Roko that she won't respond to further questions) and "Goddamn it I extended perfectly friendly hospitality to this person and they abused it by seeking to trick me and exploit my relationship with a friend."

Unlike some folks, I'm perfectly happy to talk to police - usually they're investigating something I want to see solved and not actively trying to trick me or faking friendly interest when it's not there.

But if someone walks in who's specifically been after one of my friends who's been fucking COERCED into doing something that's technically against the law, whom I don't believe deserves to go to jail ... walks in acting friendly, and then 'casually' brings up the conversational subject of that friend.... Just. No.

Fucking no sale. You were only pretending to be friendly, now you are lying to me about no longer being after her, you're abusing my offer of friendship to you and you're abusing my friendship with her. You are despicable.

It may not actually be true in this case, but I would reach the same conclusion, and the same reaction, that Hannelore did. I'd be not giving that officer one single word more.